July 25, 2015

The events that are recounted through the book of 2 Chronicles are mostly sad in nature. However, our passage today is filled with repentance, restoration and joyful celebration. The temple had been restored and now for the first time in a long time the Jews were going to celebrate Passover. In order to celebrate the Passover a lot of repentance had to come about. The Priests were not ceremonially clean so they had to cleanse themselves and the Levites had to cover for them (v.13-17). Also, the Passover had to be celebrated a bit later because things were not in order at the time when they were supposed to keep it. Hezekiah’s prayer in verses 18-20 is a great representation of Israel’s condition at this time. He is basically saying, “God please overlook these knucklehead’s and bless our effort not our excellence because they are trying really hard to love you but they got some room to grow,” and God heard Hezekiah’s prayer and healed the people.
In the Old Testament it is easy to see God as rigid and all about the rules but that is far from the truth. God has always been about the heart behind the actions. What mattered to God is that the people were truly sorrowful for their disobedience and that they wanted to change and follow God. In other words, “everyone who sets his heart to seek God…”(v.19). God’s gracious forgiveness was what the Passover celebration was all about. That God spared his people who were covered by the blood of the lamb (Exodus 12). Today, we celebrate the “final Passover,” the Gospel, that God sent his son Jesus to be the Passover lamb on our behalf and whoever believes in him will be saved (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).
So my questions for us to ponder today is do you love God with your heart? Do you celebrate the grace and mercy we have received through Jesus?